This invention relates to a pants-type disposable wearing article for absorption and containment of bodily discharges.
Conventional pants-type disposable wearing articles, for example, an article disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 1991-122824A comprise an elastically stretchable liquid-pervious topsheet lying on a body facing side, a liquid-impervious backsheet lying on an undergarment facing side and a liquid-absorbent core interposed between these top- and backsheets so as to define front and rear waist regions opposed to each other, a crotch region extending between the front and rear waist regions, a waist-opening and a pair of leg-openings.
The aforesaid article has waist regions' upper margins extending across the front and rear waist regions in a transverse direction, waist regions' lateral margins extending in a longitudinal direction and crotch region's lateral margins extending in a leg-circumferential direction. In this article, the waist regions' lateral margins are put flat and joined together in the vicinity of the outermost edges of these lateral margins by means of a plurality of welding lines arranged intermittently in the longitudinal direction. A plurality of elastic members extending in the transverse direction are contractibly attached to the respective waist regions' upper margins. Similarly, a plurality of elastic members extending in the leg-circumferential direction are contractibly attached to the crotch region's lateral margins. The elastically stretchable top- and backsheets cooperate with the waist-circumferential elastic members to tighten the wearer's waist while the top- and backsheets cooperate with the leg-circumferential elastic members to tighten the wearer's legs so as to eliminate a possibility that the article might unintentionally slip down along the wearer's waist and bodily discharges might leak out beyond the crotch region's lateral margins.
In the case of the aforesaid article, the waist regions' upper margins are formed with a plurality of irregular wrinkles or gathers undulating in a thickness direction of the top- and backsheets due to contraction of the waist-circumferential elastic members in the transverse direction. Similarly, the crotch region's lateral margins are formed with a plurality of irregular wrinkles or gathers undulating in the thickness direction of the top- and backsheets due to contraction of the leg-circumferential elastic members in the leg-circumferential direction. Formation of such wrinkles or gathers along the waist regions' upper margins and the crotch region's lateral margins necessarily results in gaps between the wearer's body and the waist regions' upper margins and between the wearer's body and the crotch region's lateral margins. Consequently, bodily discharges might leak out beyond the waist regions' upper margins and the crotch region's lateral margins through those gaps even if the elastic members adequately tighten the wearer's waist and legs. Furthermore, the wrinkles or gathers formed along the waist regions' upper margins and the crotch region's lateral margins may give the wearer more or less uncomfortable feeling and sometimes mark compression traces on the wearer's body.